Great Bear Wilderness Fading Echos

@Mordecai and @Cara

The dark Gamma had expected the pack caches the night before and found them pitifully lacking of big meat. Packs should not live on rabbits and squirrels, only fools did such a thing. He wanted to get something big for the pack and he knew that he could not do it alone. He thought about the two wolves that might want to join, Mordecai and Cara. That morning, he would call for them.

Dawn came as it always does and he rose out of his den and called for them both. He knew that, like himself, Mordecai had aspirations to be a Gamekeeper and Outsider. He wasn't sure if Cara wanted to be an Outsider as well, but he thought that every Outrider should know how to track trails and categorize scents.

Kaname's call rousted him from sleep. All things considered, Mordecai was surprised that he had slept in so long as he webt through his morning ritual or stretching. But the aspiring Silvertip male made his way to where he expected to find his former hunting companion, only stopping once to relieve himself near the borders. Every bit helped.

Not too far out from there, he found the dark-coated superior lingering in the early morning fog alone. Mordecai was aware he had called for more than just one of them, and gave a swift look around as he approached. His submission was muted as he slowed, eyes more focused on their surrounding s than he was Kaname. Had he honestly beat everyone else out there? Finally, Mordecai steadied his gold-eyed gaze on Kaname briefly, tail wagging behind him as he joined the Silvertip gamma in wait.

hello guys

Cara was not a morning person. At least no lately, ever since tension had begun to broil between the neighboring packs and members of her own pack had started showing their traitor selfs, the girl spent many sleepless nights tossing and turning under the tree he had chosen for the past few weeks.

When the earth colored male called for her, she stirred and buried her nose against her fur, wishing she could stay coiled like a little ball until the sun finally rose to the highest point in the sky. But of course she couldn't evade her responsabilities, she pulled herself up and got to her paws lethargically. Then after a good yawn and a stretch she trotted to where Kaname was calling.

When she arrived, another wolf stood besides the brown male, one she had met before he joined the pack. She greeted them both with a sharp bark, stopping besides Kaname and looking at him expectantly. "Morning" she muttered with a sluggish voice.

He did not have to wait long for the two wolves to arrive. Mordecai was first, looking rather refreshed and happy for such an early morning. The tawny wolf looked around his surroundings, most likely searching for the other wolf that Kaname had called. Soon, Cara stumbled in, looking groggy and exhausted. She mumbled a good morning before sitting down nearby. Now that the wolves were gathered, he could tell them why he called them here.

"I called you both to join me on a hunting trip. I am aware that we all share similar interests when it comes to trades, so I wish to capitalize on that. Plus, the pack caches are looking rather pitiful as of right now." He looked at the two wolves, wondering if they would come along with him. He had a feeling that if she did come along, Cara might be a little grumpy on this expedition.

How could he have known of all the wolves Kaname could have called out there, the one that would actually turn up was none other than the young female that had tried to begrudge Mordecai out of a resting place. It took a few moments to register, but he remembered her well. He bristled out of reaction to seeing her, half-tempted to give her a flash of his teeth. Her exhausted state did little to quell his discomfort in seeing her; in fact it almost served as an incitement for him to march over and give her a reason to wake up fully. He couldn't discern whether or not she remembered him though, and truth be told he tried to keep his reaction as mute as possible. He had no doubts that Kaname would spot it though, so he tempered his anger for the time being, and honed in on what the dark-furred Gamma's voice.

A hunting trip. This changed things a little bit, becoming a funnel for the Ostrega to channel the dismay in which he felt to their presence being joined by her. His eyes flicked between the two briefly, and he nodded swiftly to the proposition. "I thought I may have spied you out a time or two. I take it you've seen the herd that's been lingering to the south and west of the river in the plains.” Mordecai had been trying to keep tabs on things as much as he could, but there had been some minor hiccups with that. Whether or not the herd he spoke of was still there, well, he had no idea. It had been more than a day or two since he had last snaked out to track them.

Though once again, his eyes travelled over to the groggy wolf apart from them, and Mordecai wondered how decent of a hunter she was. If her hunting skills were as great as her sense of tact, then he felt they would need more than her to aid them. But no one else came to mind, particularly because he had yet to fully figure out which of them were geared for hunting prey. Silvertip seemed to have no short of able-looking bodies, though. "Sleepyhead," he called to her, "what's your strength? Are you better at tracking or chasing?" He had her pinned for chasing because of her size, and for the time being let his memory of their conflict slide. There would be a time and a place for it, should her headstrong youth shine again.

Oh, she remembered him. How could she forget such bizarre encounter. It hhad taken place long ago, when the yearling was beggining to sttle into the ranks of the pack. She had stumbled upon him almost by accident, mistaking him for a member of the pack. Then Cara's territorial and stubborn nature came to shine, while she stupidly tried to pick a fight with the male, even if he wasn't technically in the pack's territory and he wasn't causing any trouble.

She had tried to get him to go, but of course the male didn't take her shit and a confrontation was inevitable. But it then got even stranger when instead of giving bites and growls, Cara began batting her eyelashes at her former enemy...

Yes she remembered him alright, and she supposed he did too, after all she had made quite an impression. Embarrassment flooded over the girl as she tried to ignore the male's angry glares. The last thing the girl needed was to be put on the hot seat by Mordecai, the fact that she tried to flirt to get out of a fight would definitely make her lose part of the respect she had worked so hard to earn.

While the two males chatted about where the best hunting grounds were, Cara shot a furtive glance at Mordecai hoping he wouldn't make a big deal out of their first encounter. Right then he came by and spoke to her, making thr yearlings neck fur bristle. Both, she wanted to say but settled by answering, "Chasing, and silent ambush are my specialty".

At the arrival of Cara, Mordecai bristled and looked ready to bare his teeth. Cara responded meekly, looking embarressed at the tawny wolf's glares. Kaname sighed softly. They'd better not start fighting. he growled in his head. Pulling away his attentions from Cara, Mordecai informed him of a herd to the southwest of the Whitefish River in the flatlands. Kaname hadn't spent much time outside the borders lately, except for exploring the new territory, so he did not know the current locations of prey at the moment.

Mordecai then asked what Cara's specialites were, adding a slight insult for good measure. Cara's neck fur bristled but she answered nonetheless. "We'll figure out a way to use your talents when we scout the herd." He turned to Mordecai. "Mordecai, I want you to lead the way to this herd." Before he moved, he gave them both a warning glare. "I don't know what went on between you two before, but I do not want to hear any of that nonsense now. Got it?"

Chasing and ambushing. That would most definitely come in handy, he decided. While he formulated something of a plan or idea in his head, Kaname handed out the instructions. And sure enough, he picked up on the tension between them. Though he felt obligated to explain that they had once had a misunderstanding, he kept quiet. What was done was done, and for the time being he was willing to stow it for another time. He nodded once to confirm that he understood, and embarked to led the other two towards the herd of ungulates that he had spied out days ago.

As they made their way from the snow-capped mountain, he only hoped that they would still be in the area. From what Mordecai could tell, there were no real packs to their immediate south and east, let alone to their west if said herd had shifted course. He kept his pace brisk but steady, not wanting to lose either member of their hunting party through the winding trails and twists. He felt they'd make good time. "It's been a couple of days at least since I caught sight of them," he mentioned. He hadn't been out from the mountain much since Jinx's mention of wanting to relocate their pack. "With any luck and a bit of hope, I don't think they would have gone too much further than where they were before."

A snort erupted from Cara's nose when Kaname pointed out the clear discomfort between the two. She wanted to turn and look at Mordecai's reaction but decided against it, instead she focused her gaze on the brown assasin and gave him a quick wink -as if to say- 'Gotcha' .

It wasn't something she wouldn't normally do. But then again this was no normal situation, she was stuck with the guy that had made a fool of her, pushing her to throw out the lady cards when there was no other possible move for the girl; and Kaname, the only one of her packmates -other than Jinx and maybe Lecter- that she actually respected.

She didn't utter a word when the brown Gamma assigned Mordecai to lead, she was content that no further questions were asked and that the other male had decided to keep his mouth shut. Wise choice, she thought as she trotted behinf them both.

I'm assuming we're hunting elk, correct me if I'm wrong.

With his subordinates' feud settled for now, he followed the tawny Eta to where he last saw the herd. But what Mordecai was saying was that he hadn't seen the group in a few days - they might've wandered. "They will be likely to go farther now that the calves have grown a bit." With the mating season over for most, the offspring of rumena like the elk were growing fast, but they were not yet at their full size yet. The elk calves still had their spots which would stay until the end of summer.

"If the herd is not in the area where you last saw them, we'll split up in three directions and search there for a trail. If one of us finds anything - howl."

"If they have strayed, chances are they're moving south to get away from all the packs in the north," Mordecai added, having kept note of how previous game had responded to just the presence of one wolf. He had mentioned such to Jinx as well, which made their impending migration to the Spine all the more logical. It would be wise for them to follow the herds if they wanted to survive. Mordecai, however, hoped that if their hunt turned out to be unsuccessful, they would drive the herd they searched for back north a bit. If only for a second chance at their prime bodies.

As they approached the area where he had last seen them, the early morning fog lingered and obscured their arrival. Pausing to scent the air, Mordecai proceeded slowly and alert. Now they would find out whether or rnot they had strayed, or if they were simply bedded down in the dew-damp grass. Turning his gaze back neutrally, he looked first to Cara and then to Kaname. "Shall we spread out a bit?" he queried the high-ranking male. Maybe if they worked a grid they'd cut down the search time.

Cara stuck to Kaname's side, for she didn't want to give Mordecai any reason to restart their silent squabble. If she'd have to deal with him later then so be it. but right now she wanted nothing to do with him. As she jogged alongside the brown Gamma, she kept her nose close to the ground and her ears pricked so she could pick up any trace of the herd the two other males may have missed while they were talking.

Quickly they came to a stop and the leading male proposed to spread out. The pale girl gave a grunt in agreement even if the question wasn't directed at her, she could still voice her opinion considering she held a high rank as well.

Still she waited for Kaname to chip in before making any movement, she just glanced at the assasin with expectant eyes.

Cara had stuck alongside him as they both followed Mordecai to the area where he last saw the herd. While they walked, Mordecai was telling them of where they most likely moved: south. It made the most sense. There were many wolf packs up north: Blacktail Deer, Swiftcurrent Creek, Sunspire. He would have to send them in those directions, but he would head north to make sure.

Mordecai stopped in the grass and turned to him, asking for his next instructions. Kaname looked about, judging where the herd could have gone. "Cara and I will go south. We'll split up, one going due south and the other south west. Mordecai, you should go straight west, just in case they turned there instead." If the herds were trying to avoid the packs, then they would go in those directions. There was no pack in southern or western Teekon Wilds at the moment. All of the packs were in the northern parts of the lands. And splitting them up this way would ensure that they wouldn't squabble in anyway for now, since they would be apart.

Nodding as Kaname made the decision, Mordecai broke away from the pair and ventured out into the brush quietly. Within moments, the ambient din returned to him, and his senses felt heightened now that he was on his own. Anticipation mounted the attack as he tested the air and watched the tall blades of grass, his actions careful as he looked for the one thing that would separate earth from prey. He wanted them to be lucky and find them still bedded down at length, spread nicely through the cool grasses. But it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for them to veer somewhere else together. This wasn't the same herd of ungulates he had lost near the Plateau, though he would have liked it to be. Elk were another beast compared to deer in Mordecai's mind.

As the minutes spread out, he turned an ear back to listen to his own surroundings. They may have been the largest grouping of predators, but they weren't the only ones. But there was nothing out of place to be heard. No growling from another creature, no call or cry from either his companions or the ungulates they tracked. So he ventured on, pressing a little more to the west as time elapsed.

The beige yearling watched Mordecai slip away, she secretly felt glad he was gone, to be honest it would've been better if he had even tagged along. Of course she would never say that to his face -unless provoked- and she wouldn't bother Kaname with her complains either.

Once he was out of sight, Cara turned to head south, she glanced briefly at the brown male and gave him a soft woof to hurry him. Then she began to walk slowly, lowering her snout to the ground she waited for Kaname to appear by her side. At first she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, nothing that would give away there was a herd near.

Suddenly her nose came across a little mount of brown pebbles that made her stop hastily and search for her companion. "It's stale.." she barked with disappointment tilting her head to point at the elk's dung.

Kaname watched the Zeta walk off west. With luck, he would find some clue as to where the herd had gone, but he had a feeling that the herd would be closer to their direction. Cara woofed softly to get his attention, and he began following the Delta. While she sniffed the ground, he was the eyes and part of the ears, scanning for any sign of a large group of ungulates on the trees and bushes.

The yearling stopped suddenly and turned towards him. She was sniffing at a pile of dung, which she announced was stale. He sniffed at it and looked around. "Only by a day or so. Which means they are somewhere near here. We should keep going to see if we find anything else."

Out in the fog, Mordecai had yet to turn up anything. He found a certain frustration in the fact that nothing had yet to crop up, though he had picked up on the scents of other small bits of prey lingering around. A hare had crossed his path and bolted at one point, leaving him to resist the urge to chase what could have been an easy catch. They hadn't come out here to hunt a meal for one. They were there to hunt for the pack. It was only then that he had wished more of them could have come, or at least bothered to turn up when Kaname had called out of interest.

But those were minor things in the long run; anything they could drag back or tear off and haul would do good for those who were either less experienced in hunting or simply couldn't perform. Sighing aloud, the Ostrega brought himself to a stop beneath a stray tree in the grasslands and surveyed what he could see. Not a thing looked out of place to the west, so he turned towards the east and repeated the same. And then he debated — should he turn in and go to the others now, or wait for a call? It was possible that the herd had covered more ground than he expected too, that too much time had escaped them.

So for a bit more, he listened and waited.

Cara glanced again at the mount of shit, at least it had served as an indicator the herd was still around. She blew air out of her nose trying to get rid of the smell of poo from her. Then she turned back to the Gamma, and nodded when he decided to keep going.

Again she stepped forward,with her ears swiveling and her nose close to the ground but not enough to encounter another pile of feces. She took long careful strides but no more clues came across her path.

She wondered if Mordecai was having better luck, perhaps he had found something interesting while they were stuck sniffing shit.

The Gamma was feeling a bit frustrated, but hunts were like this. Sometimes it could go on for hours, or even days and that was just tracking the damned animals. If he was correct, then the herd was close, and they should find another pile nearby, maybe fresher. He had a feeling that Cara was not enjoying this, but it was necessary. If the pack ever did a big hunt, which he knew they probably would when they finally settled Ouroburos, then they would be in the front lines, scouting for prey. She needed to practice if she ever wanted to be recognized.

His thoughts turned back to Mordecai, wondering if the tawny wolf had happened upon anything good. If he had, then they should have gotten a call. But until then, they were stuck following this possibly dead trail.

Sock me if I'm getting ahead of things here, but I figured maybe their poop trail could possibly turn them in towards where Mordecai is heading? Think of a triangle where they all meet in the middle! :D

Silence once again reigned supreme as the morning dragged on. Mordecai, tired of waiting for a call, turned to cut a swath through the grasslands to try and join up with the others. Going out to the west was proving fruitless for him, with nary a stray dropping or tuft of hide to tell him he was heading in the right direction. The herd he had found by the Plateau before being intercepted there had been sticking closer to the wetlands and river; he deigned that the chances of them following that patch of fertile soil was more likely.

As he moved along, he considered the ramifications of coming back to his companions empty-handed. Specifically concerned with what Kaname would think, seeing how it was the dark-haired Gamma that instructed him to head out that way in the first place. But none of that seemed to matter when he thought he heard the first call of a bull elk beyond his range of vision in the haze. Mordecai turned swiftly into a stature for a moment, poised mid-step and ears cocked forward in sharp points. He listened, backtracking in his thoughts to how far he had come from his last stop. A few minutes? Maybe more or less? His thoughts had muddied his sense of time.

But there it was again, a low call somewhere in the depths. Faint, but distinct. That particular creature wasn't far off, but just far enough that he felt comfortable in knowing what he had to do. With any luck, perhaps Kaname and Cara had picked up the trail some somewhere else, that that their prey had been leisurely enjoying the tranquility of the wilderness beyond the range of their northern kin. Casting his muzzle skyward, Mordecai let out a short howl, a single note that he hoped would draw his companions to rally on him, and hopefully not put the wandering elk at unease.

Cara, the pack's very own.. shit-finder

Just as every bit of hope began to crumble inside the young female's heart, she ecnountered another clue! This time it was her foot that reached the brown little mountain, that to her dismay was indeed fresh.

The young Delta had been too caught up in her thought that she had not seen where she was stepping. An awful mistake for a hunter --which came with a foul consequence for the female.

Cara's nose scrunched up with disgust as she shook the infected paw in the air with repulsion, "AUUGH!" she grunted while she frantically rubbed it agaisnt the grass. She'd have to take a bath later. A long, long bath.

Ooo. I stepped in poop before with my bare feet. It is not a good sensation. > _ <

Mordecai's short howl made his head turn at exactly the same moment Cara's foot squelched into the elk crap. He started walking to the sound but couldn't hear Cara behind him. Kaname turned back to see Cara's white foot turned brown. A giggle rumbled in his throat and then he began laughing.

"Come on, Miss Turd-foot. Let's go find Mordecai." The Gamma chuckled before he kept walking, then trotting to his other packmate.

Ditto. I am also tired of my internet crashing whenever I try to post ugh.


Once his call had come to a finish, Mordecai shifted himself into a better position to lie in wait for the others. He had hoped that he could spot them before the elk did, though he had no idea from where exactly they would come. The timing could not have been any better though, as the sunlight had only just begun to burn off the morning haze. It would only be a matter of time before they would lose their element of surprise; no doubt the elk had heard his low call from where they remained. Only once or twice more did Mordecai hear the bull elk bellow from the fog. There was nothing to indicate to the Ostrega that the herd was choosing to move on, though they would be on their guard.

It may have felt like an eternity when he drew the sound of footfalls coming his way, and a certain anxiousness worked its way into him. As he peered across the open ground, he spotted Kaname's dark form leading the way, and Cara following behind him. Mordecai greeted them with silent merriment, waving his tail as their distance narrowed. Good, they had been close enough to hear him. He hadn't wanted to consider the possibility that they had strayed too far apart, or run the risk of having to throw out a louder call. “They're in the thicket up ahead,” he said quietly, gesturing with his muzzle. “There's at least one bull in the herd. I hear him rousing the others.” He couldn't help but grin a little bit, eager at the possibility that they had actually stumbled upon the place where the herd had bed down for the night.

bear with me I'm catching up from all my threads

Kaname's joke was very much unappreciated by the young female, if she had the chance she would've smeared the gushy remains in his fur, though it'd be hardly noticeable since his pelt was shit colored on its own.

She only responded with a furious hiss, and a whip of her tail. Then as he began moving towards Mordecai she wiped her foot on the grass, but even is she rubbed her paw madly against the dew kissed blades it wouldn't come out completely. Even now that the color had slightly faded from her fur the stink gave away the unfortunate fate she had endured.

Cara followed Kaname but made sure to keep her distance when they met Mordecai, she wasn't in the mood for more shitty jokes. She flicked her tail as she listened to her packmate's report, not hesitating to shoot him a warning glare and a growl that spoke for themselves, don't you dare opening your mouth, or I swear I'll...

When he and Cara got to the tawny wolf, Mordecai gestured towards a thicket where Kaname could hear a lowing from an elk. Mordecai informed them that the elk were up ahead, with at least one bull in the herd. The Gamma stalked forward through the thicket to size them up. It was a small harem, with 15 females and about that many young ones, along with the male.

Pulling his head back in, he issued more instructions to his subordinates. "Spread out and see if you can find a weak one. If you can't tell by looking, we'll chase them and single out one in the back of the herd."